Battlegrounds fans have been waiting for the big news for a while, having seen the announcement delayed several times.

Now the new PUBG Roadmap for 2018 has been announced by Bluehole Inc. including some big news for those wanting to explore different places.

PUBG ROADMAP UPDATE

Bluehole started off by telling fans they are planning to launch new Experimental Test Servers so they can get fan feedback on feature/content development cycle sooner.

This is all part of a big PUBG update plan, which will see major content delivery cycle put in place that launches something new every two months.

The first of these big updates is planned for this month. Each of these major updates will bring changes to specific systems and/or introduce new content.

It should also be noted that smaller updates between the major ones will also continue throughout the year.

There also planning to upgrade the game’s visuals, with new aesthetics being worked on by the art team.

Some of these can be found in the new PUBG gallery below.

Speaking of the new experimental servers, Bluehole say that one of the first new things getting tested will be a map.

PUBG’S NEW MAP

The new PUBG map will be 4x4km and offer some much tighter gameplay than seen in the original sprawling level.

“It will offer a higher player density and shorter matches and we want to get it into your hands early this time around so we can use your input to make it a great experience for everyone.

This will be followed by another new map, which will be twice the size of the one mentioned above.

“Another new map that we’re working on is planned to be 8x8km in size. As with the smaller map coming to the Experimental Test Servers, we want to get this into your hands early in its development, so you can help us make the gameplay great on this new map.”

OTHER BIG CHANGES

Bluehole are also planning to launch some new Game Modes for PUBG, although this seems like it could be a while away from launch.

New vehicles are also coming in the first half of the year, while new weapon sets and attachments are in the works.

One of the first new weapons can be found in the gallery above.

NEWS FROM BLUEHOLE

We intend to increase the detail of vehicle sounds, which means introducing suspension sounds and more skidding sounds. We also want to work with surfaces that would reflect different weather conditions and add rain sounds to vehicle surfaces. Also in the first half of the year, we’re looking at making the gun sounds more distinctly different depending on POV.

We’re ready to begin testing Achievements, in-game friends list and squad voice chat in the main menu! We also want to further allow you to customize your character, and both parachute and weapon skins will be added in the future to help with this.

We will also be testing limb and vehicle bullet penetration on the test servers later. This will add new depth to our ballistic system, and increase the realism of gameplay. We, of course, will listen closely to your feedback on these new systems, and if you have concerns, please head over to our forums and leave your feedback there.

In 2018, we will be looking at overhauling our entire TPP and FPP animation systems to make them smoother and more reactive to the environment. This will include animations for getting inside vehicles and changing seats while in the vehicle. We also want to improve how the character moves to allow our 3D replay to deliver some truly great content.

Also on our roadmap is an overhaul for the parachuting system, to make it more responsive and polish the overall look of the animations. We are also working to improve our armed and unarmed melee combat systems.

Custom Game System will itself be further expanded to allow more fine grain control and quality of life features like saving presets.